Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.
Chapter 95: A watcher on the mountain.

Chapter 95: A watcher on the mountain.

When night fell, the few residents on Fortress Four that knew about the movement of something on the mountain were tense. The soldiers on the wall were more alert than usual and patrols had doubled. Still, Sunshine wanted life on the base to continue as usual, so the news was kept under wraps.

There was another bonfire going and it was in the second wall. A group of children were singing a song while holding hands. Their young voices carried the hope for future. Parents that had cameras were recording as if the performance was a school play.

Ariel was watching from the side with his hands behind his back like a school principal.

Sunshine was watching it through a pair of night vision goggles from another world that she had repaired. It was so clear that it was almost like the performance was happening before her very eyes. She was giggling because every once in a while, Ariel looked up to the sky and clenched his fists. The performance was falling short of his strict expectations.

"He is a real pain in the ass." Hades turned up with Castiel in his arms.

Sunshine took the toddler from Hades and bathed his face in kisses. "Mommy’s baby. Where have you been?"

"Eating." Castiel giggled.

Sunshine bounced him up and down. "Really. Tell mommy what you ate?"

Castiel was more interested in the night vision goggles than talking about his dinner. So, Sunshine placed him down on the table and removed them. Then, she put them over his eyes and adjusted them.

Hades placed him near the window so that he could watch the performance like Sunshine had been doing. With the toddler successfully distracted, the adults found themselves alone and without anything to do except watch the footage of the world outside the wall.

Sunshine had been in the central watchtower all day and she had dismissed the other comms officers and remained alone inside. She had eaten her meals inside, repaired a radio and a small drone. When she stepped out, it was to ease herself and then she returned straight away.

When she was bored, she turned on some music or watched a movie.

"Still no sign of the shadow that was caught on the drone camera?" Hades asked as he covered the space between them.

Robo-dog suddenly growled, and Sunshine whirled around. A warning was sent by the wall to all the security monitors. There was something outside the wall!

Sunshine and Hades squeezed their heads together and glued their eyes to the screen. There was something outside the wall.

It didn’t try to get in.

It didn’t do anything.

It simply stood on two long, scale-rippled legs. The creature was tall at least twelve feet-much taller than an emu and an ostrich. Its wings were spread out like a tarp spread over a truck. They were dark but the tips appeared to gleam orange.

"What the fuck is that?" Hades whispered slowly.

An alarm blared and noise came over the walkie-talkie. "There is something outside the wall, it looks like a big bird. What the hell is this? Can someone find the president?"

"All men ready your weapons."

Sunshine reached for the walkie-talkie. "This is your president Sunshine, nobody should attack. Turn off the alarms and back off. Focus on the residents and clam them down before the fire burns harms someone."

"The wall defense system turned itself on automatically." Major Elio’s voice came. "Why should we put away our weapons? This super bird looks super dangerous."

"Calm down, it won’t attack." Sunshine replied.

Then Nimo’s voice came. "If the president says back off then back off. Information on what this is will be shared within thirty minutes."

Nimo switched to a private channel "Suni, I am looking at the screen right now and I am terrified. Are you seeing this?"

"Yes I am." Sunshine answered. "They are finally here, the mutant monsters that come from the mist. This one is a watcher. I did not think that one would make it out here so soon."

The creature stood still like a statue, not moving closer to the wall or avoiding the acid rain. In fact, the rain might as well have been ordinary water which did not bother it. Occasionally, it tilted its head and looked above like it was looking at the bubble. For one long hour, it remained just like that and the humans behind the wall remained tense, waiting for an attack to come.

"What is it doing?" Hades asked her.

"It’s learning." Sunshine whispered.

"Learning!" He gasped.

Sunshine nodded. "The first mutant monsters did not attack; they studied us. Our movements, patterns, reactions and weapons. It was never explained what they hoped to learn or who they reported to or what they reported. But the next monsters that came out of the mist just attacked."

Perhaps they were judging if humans were worthy or unworthy before deciding to wipe out the population, one attack at a time.

Sunshine did not know but she knew that if a watcher was there, then there was mist somewhere on the mountain. But it had to be beyond the forest because she had protected as much of it as she could from the meteors. Where meteors had fallen, there would be mist and where mist was, mutant and mutated monsters.

"So, what do we do?" Hades asked her.

Sunshine shrugged. "Nothing. If we react, we will provoke it and it will learn what kind of weapons we have. I would rather wait for the real threats to come before pulling out our weapons."

The bird shifted and flew upwards suddenly. The wall automatically sent out an alarm.

Sunshine reached for the walkie-talkie again. "No sudden moves. I don’t want to hear a single gunshot. Let it finish."

"Let if finish!!!" Major Elio bellowed. "Is this some kind of test?"

"Yes." Sunshine replied. "It is going to test the bubble and the wall. It will nudge cameras and stare a lot. No matter what happens, don’t shoot."

Hades exhaled and tapped his heart. As brave as he was trying to be, he was freaking out. Birds were not supposed to be as big as trucks or as tall as buildings!!

Sunshine waled to Castiel and picked him up. Then she took Hades’s hand and said, "Let’s go home."

Hades almost stumbled as he allowed himself to be pulled out and led back to their home. Through the journey, Sunshine did not say a single word. Not until after they reassured the children and put them to bed.

He was too restless to sleep and opted to have some a drink. Sunshine joined him on the sofa and they both watched the newest update from the information center which was being given by Nimo.

She was explaining everything about the watcher using information that Sunshine had provided.

"Most of the adults are outside, staring at the sky. That bird thing is poking at the bubble with its beak. Everyone is scared that it is going to pop it." He replied in a strained voice.

"If it can stop a meteor, it can stop a bird’s beak." She answered.

Hades wanted to ask her what they would do if it did not. But then, Nimo announced that the veterinary doctors were urgently needed because one sow and two cows were in labor.

"They sure know how to pick their timing." Hades muttered.